Riaz Haq writes this data-driven blog to provide information, express his opinions and make comments on many topics. Subjects include personal activities, education, South Asia, South Asian community, regional and international affairs and US politics to financial markets. For investors interested in South Asia, Riaz has another blog called South Asia Investor at http://southasiainvestor.blogspot.com and a YouTube video channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkrIDyFbC9N9evXYb9cA_gQ

The Asian Development Bank has agreed to a loan to help fund the first privately owned and financed wind farm in Pakistan. The output from the plant will provide much-needed additional power for Pakistan, improve the country’s energy security, and lower reliance on fossil fuels. Zorlu Enerji Electrik Uretim, will use the $36.8 million loan to install wind turbines to increase the output of its wind farm – located in the southern Sindh province, 100 kilometers northeast of Pakistan’s commercial hub of Karachi – from the current 6 megawatts to a total of 56.4 megawatts. The existing 6 megawatt wind farm project is currently selling power to the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company. Once the second construction phase is complete – expected in 2012 – the 56.4 megawatt wind farm will supply power to the national grid through a 20-year take-or-pay power purchase agreement with the National Transmission and Dispatch Company. The approved tariff will ensure that the electricity is priced competitively, with the rate dropping over time as project debt is paid down.

Wind Farm at Jhimpir, Sindh, Pakistan

Pakistan has entered into another agreement to build a $375 million wind farm to produce 150 megawatts of electricity near Karachi, its largest industrial city, according to a report in the Express Tribune. It is scheduled to be completed in two years by AES Corporation, a US company, with assistance from US Agency for International Development. The project would be set up at three sites in the Gharo Corridor in Thatta district of Sindh.

FFC Energy, a subsidiary of Pakistan's Fauji Fertilizer Company, is also building a 50 MW wind farm in Jhimpir near Karachi, at a cost of $130 million, according to Reuters. Nordex AG announced that it has signed a contract with FFC Energy Limited, Rawalpindi, for the delivery of a 50 megawatts (MW) wind farm. Known as Jhimpir, the wind farm is to be built in the province of Sindh, where Pakistan is planning to establish new capacity of around 4,600 megawatts. The average wind speed at the site of the planned project is 7.8 meters per second. FFC has therefore opted for the Nordex S77/1500 series, which is specially designed for medium-strong wind conditions. Nordex AG will be supplying hot climate versions of the turbines, which are to be produced at its facilities in China. The 33 turbines are to be delivered soon after tariff approval from NEPRA (National Electric Power Regulatory Authority) and signing of the energy purchase agreement. Nordex has obtained a Letter of Intent for another 100 MW of wind farms from the government.

Pakistan is fortunate to have something many other countries do not, which are high wind speeds near major population centers, according to data published by Miriam Katz of Environmental Peace Review.

Near Islamabad, the wind speed is anywhere from 6.2 to 7.4 meters per second (between 13.8 and 16.5 miles per hour). Near Karachi, the range is between 6.2 and 6.9 (between 13.8 and 15.4 miles per hour).

In Balochistan and Sindh provinces, sufficient wind exists to power every coastal village in the country. There also exists a corridor between Gharo and Keti Bandar that alone could produce between 40,000 and 50,000 megawatts of electricity, says Ms. Katz who has studied and written about alternative energy potential in South Asia. Given this surplus potential, Pakistan has much to offer Asia with regards to wind energy. In recent years, the government has completed several projects to demonstrate that wind energy is viable in the country. In Mirpur Sakro, 85 micro turbines have been installed to power 356 homes. In Kund Malir, 40 turbines have been installed, which power 111 homes. The Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) has also acquired 18,000 acres for building wind farms.

In addition to high wind speeds near major centers as well as the Gharo and Keti Bandar corridor, Pakistan is also very fortunate to have many rivers and lakes. Wind turbines that are situated in or near water enjoy an uninterrupted flow of wind, which virtually guarantees that power will be available all the time. Within towns and cities, wind speeds can often change quickly due to the presence of buildings and other structures, which can damage wind turbines. In addition, many people do not wish for turbines to be sited near cities because of noise, though these problems are often exaggerated.

Pakistan's Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) is trying to boost local private investment in alternative energy by offering incentives and access to wind turbine makers and operators such as Siemens, Nordex SE, Coolwind, SWEG and General Electric, according to Reuters.

Nordex in March agreed to supply Fauji Fertilizer Company (FFC) with turbines for a 50 MW farm in the southern Sindh province.

To attract private investors, AEDB's Arif Alauddin said the government is guaranteeing an annual rate of return of up to 18 percent and will pay power producers if the wind blows below an annual average of 7.3 meters per second.

AEDB has already allocated land for 18 independent power producers for wind power projects of 50 MW each. The U.S. Agency for International Development has plans to help Pakistan develop wind farms to generate 300 MW by the end of 2014.

"You cannot expect changes overnight. It'll take time. But we believe some 10,000 MW would be coming through wind in the next five to 10 years," Alauddin told Reuters.

AEDB is carrying out national wind mapping for possible farms in other locations such as southwestern Baluchistan and northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

While 250 MW of windpower is very modest to fill the current supply-demand power gap of thousands of megawatts, it does represent a good start toward serious use of renewables to generate electricity in Pakistan. Given the uncertainty about cost, availability and environmental impact of hydrocarbons, it is important for Pakistan to rapidly diversify into renewables such as water, wind and sun.

Here's a video of Late Ambassador Holbrooke signing a wind-farm funding agreement with Pakistan in November, 2010:

59 comments:

Anonymous
said...

So Pakistan can't even make its own wind turbines??

www.suzlon.com{Asia's biggest wind power company)

Anyway national pride asiade I'm no fan of wind power.Because:1.The usual output is 1/3 of installed capacity2.The power is very erratic and thus needs advanced grid management capability3.Lots of prime real estate(if they are built near cities) OR resistance losses and logistical problems if built in remote places4.Very prone to blade damage due to bird hits and storms etc

Basically there is a reason why very advanced countries like Germany and US still get >50% of their power from coal.

An Iranian company has signed a 100-million-dollar contract to construct a 1,000-megawatt wind power plant in Pakistani province of Sindh.

The contract was inked in a meeting between Iran's commercial counselor in Karachi, Ahmad Fasihi, and members of Pakistan's Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Fars News Agency reported on Friday.

SANIR, a company affiliated to the Iranian Energy Ministry, will construct the plant in collaboration with a Pakistani private company.

During the meeting, Fasihi underlined that Iranian companies can help Pakistan in constructing railroads, bridges, housing complexes and dams.

Iran has great potentials in technical and engineering services and can help Pakistan launch power plants, he added.

Iran is the only Middle Eastern country who can construct wind turbines, and has been experiencing a growth in wind power generation in recent years.

Chairman of the Pakistan-Iran Business Council of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Tariq Sayeed, said in the meeting that due to a 45-percent rise in bilateral transactions, the trade volume between the two countries will exceed USD 1 billion in the current year.

Pakistan suffers from lack of energy resources. In mid June Iran signed a major long-term gas export contract with Pakistan.

Under the 7.5-billion-dollar contract, Iran will transfer 750 million cubic feet of gas per day for 25 years starting as of 2014, once the Pakistani section of the pipeline is completed.

The volume can increase to one billion cubic feet per day and the contract can be extended for five additional years.

Anon: "Why doesn't pakistan try to build its own wind turbines?Is it less advanced than Iran??"

Sanir Iran is funded by Iranian ministry of energy which is flush with cash from oil sales.

In Pakistan, it's not a question of capability to build wind turbines. Rather, it has to do with the right public policy framework and government incentive to assure reasonable sales and return on investment to those who manufacture wind-turbines in Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD: The second wind energy pilot project has been made operational the other day evening by installing indigenized turbine at Daman-i-Koh, the highest point of capital, said a press release from Engineering Development Board (EDB).

AGECO has earlier installed first wind energy turbine at F-7 crossing for generating energy by flow of traffic and supply it to traffic signals. Niazi appreciated the landmark achievement of AGECO.

He pleaded to the government to grant special concessions to pioneer of the wind energy projects in the country. The second wind turbine will generate 2 KW energy and its life is 20 years. Therefore, it is financially viable as it covers its cost in first year of operation. The firm planned to generate enough wind energy for supply of electricity to streetlights and traffic signals of the capital. EDB has taken up their case with the CDA Chairman for meeting demand of enough suitable sites. The firm has also a plan to cover Lahore Rawalpindi Motorway for similar projects.

A wind energy vertical turbine has been designed by the AGECO firm that operates at availability of wind in range of 2.1 meters to seven meters per second against the maximum required range of 3.5 meters per second to generate 1.5 to 2 KW of energy in 24 hours. The locally designed wind energy turbine will cost Rs 200,000 per KW as compared to imported turbine costing Rs 1 million per KW.

Aitzaz A Niazi added that EDB had carried out an assessment of existing capabilities of local manufacturers for manufacturing wind turbine component and the potential for future expansion in capacity through transfer of technology. EDB CEO Aitzaz A Niazi along with senior officials of the board, team of private TV channel and management of AGECO Firm participated in the ceremony.

Wind energy, it appears, has never been so competitive. Prices for wind turbines last year dropped below €1 million ($1.36 million) per megawatt for the first time since 2005, due largely to over-capacity, greater manufacturing efficiency and increased scale, according to the market researcher Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

The group’s most recent Wind Turbine Price Index, based on confidential data provided by 28 major purchasers of wind turbines, shows that prices remain under pressure in most parts of the world. The survey includes more than 150 undisclosed turbine contracts, totaling nearly 7 GW of capacity in 28 markets around the world, with a focus on Europe and the Americas.

While the news is good for wind farm project developers hoping to save money, it’s troubling for manufacturers and component suppliers trying to make money – they have seen their margins shrink over the past couple of years. Global turbine contracts signed in late 2010 for the first six months of this year averaged €980,000 per MW, down 7 percent from €1.06 million per MW in 2009 and a peak of €1.21 million in 2008 and 2007.

All manufacturers covered by the survey showed “aggressive pricing, according to New Energy Finance, which was acquired by Bloomberg in 2009. Low-priced power-purchase-agreements in markets exposed to competitive electricity prices – rather than fixed feed-in tariffs – appear to have put additional pressure on turbine contracts. Average prices in Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States were well below €1 million per MW for contracts signed in 2010 and slated for delivery in the first half of this year.

The cost of electricity generated by wind is now at record low levels, according to the survey. “For the past few years, wind turbine costs went up due to rising demand around the world and the increasing price of steel,” Michael Liebreich, chief executive of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said in a statement. “Behind the scenes, wind manufacturers were reducing their costs, and now we are seeing just how cheap wind energy can be when overcapacity in the supply chain works its way through to developers.”

Overall, the annual 2010 global wind market shrunk for the first time in two decades, down 7 percent from 38.6 GW in 2009 due mainly to a disappointing year in the U.S. and a slowdown in the Europe, according to figures released earlier this month by the Global Wind Energy Council. The U.S. which is traditionally one of the strongest wind markets, saw its annual installations drop by 50 percent from 10 GW in 2009 to just over 5 GW in 2010, GWEC said in a statement.

“Our industry continues to endure a boom-bust cycle because of the lack of long-term, predictable federal policies, in contrast to the permanent entitlements that fossil fuels have enjoyed for 90 years or more,” Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association, said in the same statement.

GWEC secretary general Steve Sawyer believes 2011 will be better. “Orders picked up again in the second half of 2010 and investments in the sector continue to rise,” he said.

On that note, French manufacturer Alstom won a contract this month from Traianel to build Germany’s 80-turbine Borkum West II wind farm offshore farm. The project is scheduled for completion in March 2012.

US Energy Secretary Chu believes solar and wind will be competitive with energy from fossil fuels without subsidies by 2020. Here's a report:

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has unveiled initiatives aiming to make solar power as cheap as fossil fuels, and stimulate 10 GW of offshore wind development, in the next decade.

The DOE said the solar initiative, dubbed as a “sun shot” by energy secretary Steven Chu – in reference to John F. Kennedy’s “moon shot” goal of landing a man on the moon in the 1960s – would reduce the cost of solar power by 75 percent.

Chu said that would put the price of installed solar power at about $1 per watt, or about six cents per kWh, and allow solar energy systems to be broadly deployed across the country.

“That would make solar energy cost-competitive with other forms of energy without subsidies of any kind,” Chu said, according to Reuters.

The initiative includes $27 million awarded to nine projects to support the development, manufacturing and commercialization of solar energy technologies.

The DOE and Department of the Interior yesterday also announced up to $50.5 million for projects that support offshore wind energy development, and identified several high-priority Wind Energy Areas (pdf) in the mid-Atlantic.

The areas are offshore of Delaware (122 square nautical miles), Maryland (207), New Jersey (417), and Virginia (165), and will receive streamlined reviews to lessen the time for project approval and leasing, the DOE said.

The Department of the Interior said it could offer leases in these areas as early as the end of 2011.

The Interior said it hopes to identify Wind Energy Areas off of north Atlantic states, including Massachusetts and Rhode Island, in March. The department said it will carry out a similar process for the south Atlantic region, especially North Carolina, this spring.

The $50.5 million, spread over five years, is aimed at developing breakthrough offshore wind technology and removing market barriers.

The departments also published a joint plan called the National Offshore Wind Strategy (pdf). The plan calls for deploying 10 GW of offshore wind by 2020 and 54 GW by 2030, with development in both oceans, the Gulf Coast and the Great Lakes.

The plan focuses on three key challenges to offshore wind: the high cost, technical challenges, and lack of site data and expertise with permitting processes.

The long hot summers of the San Joaquin Valley suck great tsunamis of cool coastal air through the Altamont Pass, producing winds so powerful that a person can lean nearly 45 degrees without falling down.

Such awesome force gave birth in the early 1980s to the world's largest collection of wind turbines, pioneers in what is now America's fastest-growing form of renewable energy and an increasingly important weapon in the battle against global warming.

But the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area is also a symbol of the wind industry's biggest stain - the killings of thousands of birds, including majestic golden eagles, by turbines. The result has been a wrenching civil war among those who are otherwise united in the struggle to save the planet and its creatures.

It's been nearly a year since a controversial legal settlement was forged among wildlife groups, wind companies and Alameda County regulators. That agreement, opposed by some parties to the dispute, promised to reduce deaths of golden eagles and three other raptor species by 50 percent in three years and called for the shutdown or relocation of the 300 or so most lethal of the approximately 5,000 windmills at Altamont.

Pakistan's Chashma nuclear plant unit#2 is now online, according to SANA news:

ISLAMABAD, (SANA): Chashma Nuclear Power Plant Two (CHASNUPP-II) has started power generation on trial basis.

The work on 325-MW power plant was initiated in April 2005 and has been completed ahead of schedule with the cooperation of China.

According to official sources, the plant would formally be inaugurated soon with the addition of 300-MW electricity to the national grid would help meet power shortage and increase economic activity in the country.

China has offered to invest about $15 billion in Pakistan’s energy sector projects, according to Dawn News:

A Chinese delegation led by Cao Guanging, chairman of the state-owned China Three Gorges Project Corporation (CTGPC), discussed the Kohala, Bunji, Bhasha, Dashu and other hydropower projects in the upper and lower Indus valley during a meeting with Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on Wednesday.

Dr Hafeez welcomed the offer and said he would try to develop consensus on issues relating to the projects. He said he would consult with the ministries of water and power and law and justice to sort out legal and other issues.

He informed the delegation about the country’s bidding rules and laws and assured it that the bidding process would be held in a transparent manner.

He said the Chinese offer had been discussed at a recent meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet. He said the projects identified by the CTGPC would be taken up with it but only after the completion of procedural matters.

The Chinese offer to provide financial and technical assistance for hydel and wind power projects, upgrade the transmission system and provide an integrated solution to the problems of power shortage and disruptions was elaborated by the CTGPC delegation at the Aiwan-i-Sadr on Wednesday.

Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said in a statement that President Asif Ali Zardari had advised the government to consider tasking the CTGPC with building a run-of-the-river hydro project at Sukkur Barrage and asked Water and Power Minister Syed Naveed Qamar to discuss the project with the sections concerned and prepare a proposal in two months.

The president said that agreements with China ensured full security of Chinese investments in Pakistan. He said the true potential of business partnership between entrepreneurs of the two countries had yet to be fully realised.

Mr Babar said the CTGPC was already involved in a number power projects in the country and offered to build more to address the problems of power shortage. He said the corporation was currently undertaking Karot, Taunsa, Kohala and Bunji hydro-electric power projects. A letter of intent for the 720MW Karot project has been issued after the approval of its feasibility study. The project is currently at the tariff petition stage.

A memorandum of understanding for the 120MW Taunsa hydro-eclectic project has been signed and a development agreement will be signed this month. Mr Babar said the 1,100MW Kohala project was ready for tariff negotiations. A letter of intent for the project has already been issued after the approval of its updated feasibility study.

The 7,100MW Bunji project is ready for site survey. The MoU for the project was signed in August 2009.

Mr Babar said that wind power projects, including Sindh’s first and second wind farms and Punjab’s wind and solar projects, were also in an advanced stage.

Pakistan's prime minister set up an energy council to tackle the current energy crisis, according to Radio Pakistan:

.. He said a team effort was required for a mutually rewarding and strategic partnership between the government and the energy sector as he firmly believed that the industry was capable of turning the tide and delivering results.--------The Prime Minister said “Fuelling the Future” therefore requires finding new oil and gas reserves through aggressive exploration activities, optimizing production from existing fields by applying cutting-edge technology, enabling gas imports from across the borders via regional pipelines and LNG shipments.

He said the Government was encouraging foreign investments in energy infrastructure development and in a broader context, development of alternate sources of energy and energy conservation, for a sustainable energy supply.He said Pakistan was an energy-deficit country, meeting nearly 90% of its oil requirement through imports.--------He said the government was struggling to keep up with an increasing energy import bill which has adversely affected country’s trade deficit and pointed that it was difficult for the government to pass on the full impact of the rising international oil prices to the people.----------He said development of local energy sources, including hydel projects and the Thar coal-fields, also remains a high priority for this government.He said the government has already added 1700 MW in the national electricity grid during last three years and many more power projects were at various stages of development. “We have even resolved the basic problem which had held us back in utilizing the vast coal reserves in Sindh for producing energy,” he said.----He said the share of natural gas as one of the primary energy source has increased from 40 percent in 1999 to 60 percent in 2010 and currently the entire domestic natural gas production was being consumed while providing for approximately 50 percent of total energy requirements. The Prime Minister said holding of the international event being clearly indicated the priority accorded to highlighting the country’s energy issues by the Petroleum Institute being the representative body of the most important public and private sector companies in the oil & gas sectors of the country. He said Pakistan today faced a number of challenges including security issues arising from its fight against terrorism and a growing trade deficit as a result of rising energy prices globally.The Prime Minister said though the challenges have caused financial constraints in the country, the government was however determined to face these in the same way as was being done in the political arena. --------He said the Energy Conference that will have working sessions on oil & gas exploration & production, LNG imports, development of Thar coal-fields, power sector progress, oil infrastructure development and safety recommendations for the energy sector. ----------The event also saw the formal launch of the 2011 Pakistan Energy Outlook Document.The conference while noting the almost 80 per cent growth in Pakistan’s energy requirement in the past 15 years from 34 million tons oil equivalent (TOE) in 1994-95 to 61 million TOE in 2009-10 would deliberate on ways to find a way out to find cost effective solutions.The country’s energy supply currently comes primarily from indigenous natural gas which is 45% of the energy mix and oil imports at 35% of the energy mix, with the balance from hydel at 12%, coal at 6% and nuclear at 2% of the mix respectively.Chief Executive Officer of Petroleum Institute of Pakistan (PIP) Saleem Piracha presented an overview of the Pakistan Energy Vision 2011-2026, while Chairman PIP Zaiviji Ismail, Country chairman of Shell Pakistan spoke about the energy need, demand and the measures being taken to meet the shortfall.

The new Pakistan Power Report forecasts Pakistan will account for 1.12% of Asia Pacific regional power generation by 2015, with the chance of possible generation surplus if investment rises and the country’s substantial transmission losses can be brought under control. BMI’s Asia Pacific power generation assumption for 2010 is 7,761 terawatt hours (TWh), representing an increase of 5.1% over the previous year. We are forecasting a rise in regional generation to 9,901TWh by 2015, representing growth of 21.2% in 2011-2015.In 2010, Asia Pacific thermal power generation totalled an estimated 6,187TWh, accounting for 79.7% of the total electricity supplied in the region. Our forecast for 2015 is 7,704TWh, implying 18.6% growth that reduces the market share of thermal generation to 77.8%. This is thanks largely to environmental concerns promoting renewable sources, hydro-electricity and nuclear generation. Pakistan’s thermal generation in 2010 was an estimated 64.2TWh, or 1.04% of the regional total. By 2015, the country is expected to account for 0.83% of regional thermal generation.Gas is the dominant fuel in Pakistan, accounting for an estimated 50.9% of primary energy demand (PED) in 2010, followed by oil at 31.0%, hydro-electric energy at 9.6% and coal with a 6.9% share. Regional energy demand is forecast to reach 5,508mn tonnes of oil equivalent (toe) by 2015, representing 20.0% growth from the estimated 2011 level. Pakistan’s estimated 2010 market share of 1.54% is set to ease to 1.51% by 2015. Pakistan’s estimated 2.9TWh of nuclear demand in 2010 is forecast to reach 7.0TWh by 2015, with its share of the Asia Pacific nuclear market rising from an estimated 0.53% to 0.90% over the period.Pakistan now shares eighth place with Malaysia in BMI’s updated Power Business Environment Ratings, thanks to its relatively high level of renewables (mostly hydro) usage and healthy energy demand growth prospects. Several country risk factors offset the industry strength, but the country is in a good position to keep clear of the Philippines below.BMI now forecasts Pakistan real GDP growth averaging 3% a year between 2011 and 2015, with the 2011 growth assumption being 1.5%. The population is expected to expand from 173mn to 194mn, with GDP per capita increasing by 24% and electricity consumption per capita rising by 5%. Power consumption is expected to increase from an estimated 75TWh in 2010 to 87TWh by the end of the forecast period. After power industry usage and transmission losses, there is scope for a supply surplus by 2015 of around 4TWh, assuming 2.9% average annual growth in electricity generation during 2011-2015.Between 2010 and 2020, we are forecasting an increase in Pakistani electricity generation of 32.3%, which is below average for the Asia Pacific region. This equates to 15.3% in the 2015-2020 period, up from 14.8% in 2011-2015. PED growth is set to increase from 20.5% in 2011-2015 to 22.4%, representing 47.4% for the entire forecast period. An increase of 50% in hydro-power use during 2011- 2020 is a key element of generation growth. Thermal power generation is forecast to rise by just 8% between 2011 and 2020, with nuclear usage up 314% from a low base. More details of the long-term BMI power forecasts can be found at the end of this report.

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World Bank commits to helping Pakistan build energy projects, according to APP:

ISLAMABAD, Jun 10 (APP): The World Bank (WB) has assured to consider financial assistance for more mega hydro electric and wind power projects in Pakistan and to continue its assistance for ongoing water and power sector projects.Country Director World Bank in Pakistan, Rachid Benmessaoud along with a four- member delegation called on the Minister for Water and Power, Syed Naveed Qamar here on Friday.Mr. Benmessaoud said that the WB is already providing financial assistance for electricity distribution and transmission improvement project (EDTIP) which is likely to be completed within the prescribed time frame.

This will improve the transmission and distribution network in the country by replacing the existing infrastructure. Allocated funds of US$ 15.6 million for technical assistance of institutional strengthening and capacity building of power distribution companies.A pilot project for installation of advance metering infrastructure (Smart meters) is also being funded by WB, adding that Terbela extension IV project has also signed with WAPDA which will generate additional 300 MW and completed within three years.The Bank also fully supports the power sector reforms, he said and assured that the bank will take up more hydel and wind power projects for assistance to resolve the energy crisis,he added.The Minister for Water and Power, Syed Naveed Qamar offered various mega projects for assistance and said that the WB support is very important for the power sector.He said that the government is taking all possible measures to resolve the energy crisis. Recoveries are being improved, zero tolerance policy for defaulters, rehabilitation of Gencos, upfront tariff for wind power, power sector reforms are underway and operation and maintenance of Gencos through private sector.He said that more than 2000 MW has been added in the national grid. Work on various hydro and water sector projects have started, he observed.The Minister asked the PEPCO to immediately complete the procedure for hiring international procurement adviser and smart metering project so that the disbursement could be started at the earliest.

Two private sector power projects, having cumulative net capacity of 390 megawatts, have been added to the national grid in the last one month.

This was told in a meeting of the Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) held on Monday under the chairmanship of Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar, said a press statement.

One was a gas-based independent power producer (IPP) named Fauji Daharki Power Project with a capacity of 176.6 MW and was commissioned on April 22 and the other was 213.8MW Hubco-Narowal Power Project which started commercial operations on May 16.

Participants of the meeting said that another three IPPs were in construction phase which included 209MW Bhikki Power Project, which is expected to be commissioned soon, 84MW New Bong Hydropower Project and 375MW Uch-II Power Project based on gas, expected to be completed by 2013.

Qamar said that the government believed in the policy of facilitating investors and removing hurdles in processing of projects, adding the Power Generation Policy for 2002 was being reviewed to make it more investor-friendly, in consultation with public and private sector stakeholders.

He added that in order to make electricity affordable, the concept of converting existing thermal IPPs to cheaper fuels like coal, LNG, etc was being seriously considered.

Appreciating the role of PPIB in bringing investment in the power generation sector, the minister asked PPIB to focus on the development and implementation of power projects based on water and coal for medium and long-term needs.

Sindh govt allocates Rs. 3.7 billion for Thar coal development in 2011-12 budget, according to Dawn:

KARACHI, June 11: Tormented by the power shortages the Sindh government focuses on developing indigenous coal reserves. In the next Annual Development Plan it has earmarked Rs3710.937 million for Thar coal project.

For energy sector a total of Rs1214.499 million has been kept in the ADP 2011-12. This include Rs1100 million for the coal gasification project.

Sindh Finance Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah while explaining salient features of the budget for 2011-12 said: “Thar coal reserves of 175 billion tons are ample for provision of cost-effective energy for centuries”.

He said that once the reserves were properly exploited they could help in generating 20,000MW by 2020.

Recently, in international competitive bidding, two Chinese companies, an Australian company, and Pakistan Petroleum Limited participated.

As a result, two Chinese companies have been selected to undertake coal exploration, power generation and establishing petro-chemical complex at two blocks of Thar.

He said the bankable feasibility study for joint venture project of the Sindh government and Engro was created to boost the potential in a record period of eight months.

The Sindh government and the federal government have included this project in the list of projects to be taken up with the Pak-China Joint Energy Working Group (JEWG) formed during the last visit of the Chinese prime minister to Pakistan, he said.

Leading Chinese companies have shown strong interest in executing this project. The mining and power generation from this project is expected in 2015-16 depending upon the financing arrangements for the project.

The test burn at Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) is expected during coming financial year. After successful testing, the project will be scaled up to produce 2x50MW electricity.

He said the government has made serious efforts to provide critical infrastructure for development of Thar coal.

A scheme for bringing water to Thar from Makhi Farash has been approved by ECNEC, feasibility studies for effluent disposal and laying of broad-gauge railway line are to be completed in June, 2011.

Work on improvement and widening of road for movement of heavy machinery from Karachi to Mithi-Islamkot is expected to start in next year.

According to rough calculations an amount of $1.20 billion is needed over a period of next five years to develop the required infrastructure for Thar.

Serious efforts are also in place to exploit the Gharo-Keti Bandar wind corridor.

During the Sindh chief minister`s recent visit to South Korea an MoU to generate 2000MW of wind energy was signed with Korea Southern Power Company.

The issue of electric power is of great priority for Sindh. The CCI has given approval to the removal of a limit on the ceiling of 50MW, which was earlier set at which provinces could construct power plants.

The Sindh government has signed a letter of intent with the Three Gorges Project Corporation, China`s premier electricity producer, to help explore the hydro power potential in Sindh.

A team from CWE, a subsidiary of the Three Gorges, recently visited Sukkur Barrage to gauge the potential for constructing a power plant.

Under the village electrification programme 446 villages were provided electricity during 2010-11, while the process for providing power to 350 more villages is underway.

Pakistan is ready to approve a Norwegian company’s request to build a 150-megawatt wind farm, the first part of a $1 billion plan that could boost by a third the announced capacity for clean-energy power plants, according to Bloomberg News:

Pakistan is seeking to diversify its energy supplies away from oil and gas and boost electricity production. The nation has a power deficit of 3.6 gigawatts a day, or more than the output of two nuclear reactors, triggering 12-hour blackouts that cause riots and close factories in cities nationwide.

The Alternative Energy Development Board is willing to allow a project proposed by NBT AS, a Lysaker-based clean energy company that plans to build the facility in the Sindh province “wind corridor” north of Karachi, according to Said Arif Alauddin, chief executive of the government agency.

“They came to us saying they have got the money and relationship with the Chinese and they want to invest,” Alauddin said from the port city of Karachi. “As soon as they pay the fee, we will issue that letter to them. We will be able to give them the land if we can see they can deliver.”

Pakistan has almost 1 gigawatt of projects under construction or with financing agreed and 498.5 megawatts more of wind programs announced, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance data. Only 6 megawatts of wind energy facilities are operating in the nation. It’s the ninth-poorest in the Asia- Pacific region with a 2009 gross domestic product per capita of $2,609, according to Bloomberg data.Chinese Financing

NBT Chief Executive Officer Joar Viken said he plans to tap financing for his project from one of three Chinese turbine makers that his company is talking with about supplying machinery for the facilities.

“We think Pakistan is a very good environment and has a very good framework,” Viken said in a phone interview from New York. “Because we get everything in U.S. dollars, we don’t have a huge currency risk.”

Viken said NBT would issue a tender to Goldwind Science & Technology Co., Sinovel Wind Group Co. and China Energine International Holdings Ltd. (1185) to supply the turbines. Each of the companies have credit lines with the China Development Bank Corp., a state-owned lender.

“Goldwind now is actively seeking more cooperation opportunities with domestic as well as foreign wind farm developers to expand Goldwind’s presence in overseas markets,” Thomas Yao, a spokesman for the company, said in an e-mail. “Norway’s NBT AS is among the international opportunities we are currently considering.”

A spokesman for China Energine, who asked not to be named in line with company policy, said he doesn’t know about the talks and can’t comment. Officials at Sinovel couldn’t be reached.Financing ‘Feasible’

The financing arrangements are “feasible” because the Chinese turbine makers would not develop the projects themselves, said Eduardo Tabbush, an industry analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance in London.

“This is something we’ve seen happening more and more,” Tabbush said.

NBT envisions developing as much as 650 megawatts of wind power in Pakistan over the next few years. It already has purchased land suitable for 50 megawatts in Sindh province and is seeking a partnership with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology, a university in Karachi, for land for the other 100 megawatts, Alauddin said.Support Mechanism-------The country’s electricity shortfall reaches as much as 3,628 megawatts per day, according to demand-supply data available on the ministry of power and water website.

Ending a federal tax break for wind farms in India, the largest market for turbines after China and the U.S., would cause a $540 million drop in demand just as suppliers including General Electric Co. (GE) expand local capacity, according to Bloomberg News:

Wind park installations may fall 15 percent in the financial year starting April 2012 from the 2,600 megawatts projected for this year should the benefit be discontinued, said Ashish Sethia, lead analyst with Bloomberg New Energy Finance in New Delhi.

The government wants to axe an accounting rule next year that encouraged companies to erect most of India’s 14,157 megawatts in wind projects as a way of cutting taxes rather than generating power. It favors a less-generous subsidy that companies have been slow to adopt.

“We could see some disturbance in demand and some filtering out of smaller players,” said Mahesh Makhija, director of renewables at the local unit of CLP Holdings Ltd. (2), Hong Kong’s biggest power supplier and India’s largest developer of wind farms. A 400-megawatt slump in demand could cut investment by 24 billion rupees ($540 million) based on current construction costs.---------A shakeout may intensify turbine suppliers’ push for new business as wind installations peak in developed markets in the U.S. and Europe. Turbine suppliers in India jumped by a third to 20 last year as the country installed about $3 billion of wind capacity, the most after China and the U.S.Surpassed Wind Targets

While global wind farm installations declined for the first time in almost two decades in 2010, India overshot the government’s target by 18 percent.

Anticipating that trend to continue, Siemens AG (SIE) plans its first 500-megawatt wind turbine plant in India by 2013, Gamesa Corporacion Tecnologica SA aims to complete three facilities by 2012 and GE opened a turbine assembly plant in India this year.

The alternative subsidy favored by the government “will shift the market focus from investment incentives to production incentive, which is very relevant in the backdrop of energy shortfalls in the country today,” GE said.

“This will attract new developers” that will focus on making power more available more efficiently, it said in an e- mailed response to questions.

Suzlon Energy Ltd. (SUEL), India’s dominant supplier, said in an e-mail that it welcomed “this shift across investor groups” who are now looking with a long-term view that would mean larger- sized projects, lower transaction costs and more evenly distributed demand throughout the year for the industry.

Enercon India Ltd., India’s second-biggest turbine supplier, declined to comment on whether the end of the tax break could impact demand. Suzlon shares fell as much as 4.4 percent, the most in three weeks, and closed down 2.7 percent in Mumbai trading. Suzlon’s stock has dropped 10 percent this year.Suzlon, Gamesa Competition

Suzlon faces increasing competition from new entrants. Its share of new wind installations in India dropped below 50 percent for the first time last year while Spain’s Gamesa topped Vestas Wind Systems A/S to emerge as the nation’s third-biggest wind supplier after just 18 months in the market.

The Generation-Based Incentive pays wind farms 500 rupees for every megawatt-hour fed to the grid.

Wind developers are pressing to double that to 1,000 rupees and remove an overall cap of 6.2 million rupees per megawatt to make the subsidy as lucrative as accelerated depreciation, said K. Kasthoorirangian, chairman of the Indian Wind Power Association.

Only 543 megawatts of wind projects have signed up for the Generation-Based Incentive since its introduction in December 2009, which is available for as much as 4,000 megawatts of projects, according to ministry data....

CapAsia, a joint venture private equity fund manager between CIMB Group and Standard Bank Group, has announced a $20.5 million investment into two wind parks in Pakistan. The capital will be deployed from its Islamic Infrastructure Fund (IIF). The assets are 50MW each wind parks currently in development in the Sidh province of Southeast Pakistan, being built by domestic corporates Fauji Foundation, Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim and the Tapal Group.

Construction will begin at the end of 2011, with a completion date targeted in March 2013. The project is part of the government's push for renewable energy investment, first announced in 2006, but only taken up in earnest in the past six months.

In 2007, former President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, said he hoped alternative energy could help increase power generation by 10-12% per annum in a country where many of the 150 million people still live off the grid.

Mirza Arshad Ali Beg, President of the Pakistan Environmental Assessment Association previously said in an interview with media that he worried about the government's policy because it could not be accomplished without the help of foreign capital and goods. "For solar power we will depend on imported photovoltaic cells, for windmills we shall have to depend on an investor to bring in the necessary technology, equipment and parts, and we will see similar scenarios with biogas or energy from solid waste, or even nuclear energy."

He appears to be right. In November of 2010, Pakistan and the United States signed a wind power generation project agreement slated to be completed in 2012, which would cost $375 million for a wind farm capable of producing 150MW of electricity. It was the first of its kind, using a public-private partnership model often employed for infrastructure projects in countries like India and China. And, last month the ADB agreed to lend up to $200 million to help fund several wind farm projects that would produce 250MW per annum of power.

The potential for the use of alternative technologies to produce energy in Pakistan has never been fully explored, but the regions of Gharo and Jhimpir in the Sindh Province have better wind resources than other areas, with wind speeds averaging nearly 7 meters per second.

The IIF was developed jointly by the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and now counts CapAsia as fund manager.

Koreans plan to build 2000 MW wind power plants in Pakistan, according to Ewind:

The delegation made commitment to generate at least 200 MW from a wind farm in next two years. Hyundai Corp also showed intention of his company to put up wind turbines plant in Pakistan.

Wind energy in Pakistan - KOSPO keen to set up 2000 MW wind powerA Korean power company has indicated interest to set up wind power plants in the wind corridor of Sindh to generate 2000 megawatts in the next five years. This willingness was shown by the leader of delegation of Korea Southern Power Company Ltd (KOSPO), Park Seog-Ho while talking to the Advisor to Sindh CM on Investment Zubair Motiwala at his office. General Manager Hyundai Corporation, Jin Han Chung and Secretary SBI Mohammad Younus Dagha were also present on the occasion.

The delegation made commitment to generate at least 200 MW from a wind farm in next two years. They said that KOSPO was producing 9,238 MW of power in Korea with an investment of $ 5 billion. KOSPO is also producing electricity in UAE, Jordan and Bulgaria. In Korea, they are generating power from coal, LNG, oil and wind power.

The representative of Hyundai Corp also showed intention of his company to put up wind turbines plant in Pakistan to cater to the need of wind turbines in other wind energy projects. Hyundai is manufacturing wind turbine of 2 MW each.

Motiwala thanked the delegation and assured his full cooperation in identifying a suitable land in wind corridor for the wind farm project in accordance with the present elected government's investment friendly policy.

It was agreed that Sindh Board of Investment will formulate a schedule for signing of memorandum of understanding for this project during the visit of Sindh Chief Minister to South Korea from May 17 to 28.

First wind farm to start producing power by year-end

Around 50 to 70 Megawatts of environmentally clean, wind energy will be added to the national grid by the end of the current year with the start of production from the Fauji Fertilizer Company Energy Limited’s (FFCEL) wind farm, currently under construction at Jhimpir.

Officials at the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) said that the first ever, wind power..

A renewable energy initiative led by Pakistan Engineering Council chairperson and PPP senator Rukhsana Zuberi is installing solar panels on many public buildings in Islamabad and elsewhere in Pakistan. She is an NED University mechanical engg alum.

Pakistan set to announce incentives for renewable energy investors, according to Bloomberg:

Pakistan will announce its first tariff policy for clean-energy producers next month, offering premium payment rates as it seeks to attract investors to help overcome power shortfalls.

The country has given approval to 30 companies to install wind plants with an estimated capacity of 1,500 megawatts, said Arif Alauddin, chief executive of the state-run Alternative Energy Development Board.

“There will be a feed-in tariff based on a cost-plus approach,” he said in an Aug. 23 interview at his office in Islamabad. The tariff policy “offers an extremely good rate of return,” with most of the risks covered by the government, he said.

Developers may be able to get as much 18 percent returns on their investment, he said, declining to say what the feed-in tariff rates will be.

Pakistan is seeking to diversify its energy supplies away from oil and gas and boost electricity production. The nation has a power deficit of 3 to 4 gigawatts a day, or more than the output of two nuclear reactors, triggering 12-hour blackouts that cause riots and close factories in cities nationwide.Financial Closure

The feed-in tariffs will speed the development of projects in the pipeline, Alauddin said. Companies that are close to achieving financial close include Zorlu Enerji Elektrik Uretim AS (ZOREN), a Turkish power utility, China International Water & Electric Corp. and Fauji Foundation’s two plants in Sindh province, he said.

Pakistan has almost 1 gigawatt of wind-power projects under construction or with financing agreed upon and 498.5 megawatts more of plants announced, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance data. Only 6 megawatts of wind-energy facilities are operating in the nation.

Commercially exploitable wind exists in many parts of Pakistan, especially in Sindh and the coastal area of Balochistan. Zorlu Enerji’s project is Pakistan’s first privately owned and financed wind farm.

Pakistan is the ninth-poorest country in the Asia-Pacific region with a 2009 gross domestic product per capita of $2,609, according to Bloomberg data. Its fight with Taliban militants in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, a debt pileup among energy companies and unwillingness of banks to finance power projects are creating some “barriers” for potential investors, Alauddin said.

“The engineering, procurement and construction cost and the turbine cost that are offered to Pakistani investors appear to be higher than what is being offered elsewhere in the world, maybe 20 percent to 25 percent higher,” he said.

Pakistan is seeking to derive at least 5 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030, the development board said in March. Last year, 53 percent came from natural gas, 30 percent from oil and the rest from coal, nuclear and hydropower, according to data from BP Plc. The London-based oil company didn’t measure the sources of renewable energy there.

Pakistan will unveil a new renewables feed-in tariff (FIT) next month as it looks to narrow its economically-crippling energy gap, according to rechargenews.com:

The Pakistani government first launched a FIT in 2006, but the package bore little fruit and the country still has just 6MW of operational wind capacity.

The new FIT is aimed at jump-starting renewables in a nation that faces a 3-4GW energy shortfall, made worse by the devastating floods in 2010.

In sharp contrast to Pakistan’s paltry wind portfolio, neighbouring India had more than 13GW installed at the end of 2010, according to the Global Wind Energy Council.

While Islamabad has not spelled out the new FIT rates, a spokesman for the state-run Alternative Energy Development Board says investors will be able to net internal rates of return of up to 18% under the new support regime.

The government has already given the go-ahead to 1.5GW of projects, with several developers near to reaching financial close. These include Turkish utility Zorlu Enerji and China International Water & Electric.

Zorlu Enerji’s 49.5MW project near Hyderabad will be Pakistan’s first privately-owned wind farm.

In 2010, for the first time, more wind capacity was added in emerging economies than in the traditional wind markets in the OECD countries.

ISLAMABAD, Oct. 08 -- In order to attract investment in the energy sector, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has set upfront tariff for wind power projects along with cutting down paper work.

Upfront tariff of Rs12.61 per unit has been determined for wind power plants that will be set up with a loan from Pakistani banks in rupee and Rs17.28 per unit for plants that will use loans in dollar from foreign banks.

Upfront tariff is the price Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) will pay to purchase electricity from wind power plants.

This upfront tariff will be applicable to those wind power projects of 1,500MW that would be commissioned first.

This incentive will also be given to those investors who will be able to meet all conditions of setting up wind power plants till December 2012 and remain effective for 20 years.

The decision will stop the time consuming process of wind power companies going to Nepra for tariff determination, an official said.

The government plans to generate 1,500MW through wind power by the end of next year.

Independent power producers have also asked for an upfront tariff as currently each power producer is given a different rate.

Under upfront tariff mechanism, the role of Nepra has been minimised. The period of setting up a wind power plant will also be reduced from existing three to two years.

Wind power projects of at least 1,000MW are expected to be commissioned in Sindh with projected investment of $2.5 billion.

Gharo wind corridor in Hyderabad has the potential to generate 50,000MW, according to Alternative Energy Development Board data. Around 30,000 acres of land has been allocated for wind power plants in the area.

At present, nine companies are working on setting up 50MW wind power plant each to generate 450MW with financial close expected by the end of 2011.

The government also hopes that Norwegian company NBT will set up plants to generate 250MW to 500MW in Sindh after upfront tariff has been announced. The company has also signed an agreement with Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST) for a 50MW wind power plan

Pakistan to produce 500MW wind power by end of 2012, reports Daily Times:

KARACHI: President Asif Ali Zardari said by end of year 2012, Pakistan would be able to produce 500 MW of wind power.

During briefing by Alternate Energy Development Board, Board of Revenue Sindh and Sindh Investment Board on wind power projects he called for periodic reports to be submitted to the Presidency indicating progress made and bottlenecks encountered.

Three wind power projects of 50 MW each would start producing power within a year and work on ten projects of 50MW each would start early next year. Another five projects were at initial stage of financial close in the year 2012.

President was informed all companies involved with wind power projects have suggested announcement of upfront tariff to save at least six months project time, which is spent in tariff determination by concerned authority.

Zardari asked NEPRA to examine suggestion and expressed hope NEPRA would soon arrive at a consensus upfront tariff regime for all projects till the capacity to produce 2000 MW is achieved.

However, option of opting for normal tariff determination system would remain open for companies opting not to go for upfront tariff. He said incentives would be given to companies that would be able to start their power production within one year.

ISLAMABAD, Nov. 12 -- The Asian Development Bank has agreed to provide about $98 million for three wind energy projects to be set up by the private sector in Kutti Kun area near Karachi port.

The projects with an estimated generation capacity of 150MW involving construction, erection and operation of wind mills would sell electricity to the national grid under a 20-year contract, officials told media on Wednesday.

The sources said that the projects were scheduled to be approved by the ADB's executive board on Dec 1 and Dec 8.

The ADB will also provide a loan of $31.50 million to the government for a renewable energy sector investment programme, targeting to cover by 2015 3.5 per cent of power generation.

The bank will also provide technical assistance to Pakistan for increased energy security.

The sources said that in view of the chronic energy shortages, the government was undertaking a multi-pronged strategy, including a programme that will replace inefficient thermal generation stations with larger and efficient facilities.

Under the energy efficiency development project for which the government is seeking a loan of $370 million, thermal power generation facilities to be replaced or rehabilitated will be identified and prioritised as suggested in a diagnostic study completed by the Agence Francaise de Development of France

HONG KONG, Dec. 21 /PR Newswire Asia/ -- Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co., Ltd. ('Goldwind', SZ Stock Code: 002202, HK Stock Code: 2208), announced that it has entered into an agreement with China Three Gorges Corporation ('Three Gorges') to provide Three Gorges' first wind power project in Pakistan with 33 units of GW77/1500 high-temperature Permanent Magnet Direct Drive (PMDD) turbines. The agreement also includes two years of operations and maintenance service.

This is Goldwind's first order from Pakistan and South Asia and the first joint overseas project for Goldwind and Three Gorges, which marks another achievement in Goldwind's global expansion. So far, Goldwind has expanded its global footprint with wind power projects on six continents.

The project is located in Jhimpir, Sindh, Pakistan, which has varied weather with an average temperature of 27 degrees Celsius. The district is semi-arid and dusty. To withstand this environment, Goldwind's R&D team has designed the GW77/1500 high-temperature unit for use in a temperature range of -20 to 45 degrees Celsius with a sealed, dust-proof design.

During the signing ceremony, Bi Yaxiong, Deputy General Manager of Three Gorges, said, 'This is Three Gorges' first overseas wind power project. The reason why we have chosen Goldwind as the turbine provider and maintenance service provider is that we strongly believe in Goldwind's R&D capabilities as well as product and service quality. Moreover, Goldwind has achieved remarkable results in its overseas expansion in recent years and has a wealth of experience in project development and turbine maintenance. The project will establish a strong framework for our future collaboration.'

Wu Gang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Goldwind, said, 'This project is our first in Pakistan and the South Asia region. It represents a significant corporate milestone and will provide an example for our future development. We must leverage our global project management experience and adhere to the highest standards of project execution so that this wind power project is a success for all stakeholders.'

Goldwind is currently constructing the Shady Oaks project in Illinois, the Adama project in Ethiopia, and the Mortons Lane project in Australia. Turbines for the Villonaco project in Ecuador, which Goldwind announced in August, are in transit. The Company also signed a contract for a project in Chile earlier this month.

Goldwind is pursuing a strategy of international expansion through localization. To date, Goldwind has set up more than 10 branches in North and South America, Australia, Europe and Africa, expanding its global footprint.

Goldwind is the world's largest PMDD wind turbine manufacturer and a leading comprehensive wind power solutions provider. Goldwind was among the first in China to provide one-stop wind power services and wind farm investment and operation management. As Goldwind has expanded globally, it has extended its comprehensive wind power solutions to overseas markets.

Vestas has received an order for a total capacity of 50.4 MW, consisting of 28 units of the V90-1.8 MW wind turbines for a wind farm project in Nooriabad in the Jimphir region of Pakistan, according to Reve:

The contract comprises supply of the wind turbines, supervision of the installation on site, commissioning as well as a VestasOnline® Business SCADA system and a two-year service and availability agreement. Delivery of the wind turbines is scheduled to start in the first half of 2012 and the wind power project is expected to be completed by the end of 2012.

The order has been placed by Zorlu Energy Pakistan Ltd., which is a 100 per cent owned subsidiary of the Turkish Zorlu Enerji Electricity Generation Inc. In 2006, the company signed an agreement with the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) of the Government of Pakistan to build the first wind farm in Pakistan for a total capacity of 56.4 MW. The first phase of the wind power project comprising 6 MW has been in operation since 2009 and the second phase comprising the 50.4 MW will be delivered by Vestas.

Murat Sungur Bursa, CEO of Zorlu Energy Group declares: “We take pride in building the first wind power plant in Pakistan, which will lead the wind industry in the country and, hopefully, will motivate other investors to seek opportunities in the region. In this wind farm, Vestas is a very strong technology partner offering us reliable and efficient products. We trust that they will deliver the best solutions with high-quality service and professional sector experience both locally and globally. Our partnership on this particular project will have a positive impact within the region in terms of social and economic welfare and it will strengthen our collaboration.”

“We are pleased to have been chosen as preferred partner for this project by Zorlu Enerji, one of the largest energy companies in Turkey. They have shown their trust in our capabilities and our team to support them in this new challenging project in Pakistan ensuring business case certainty and a high return on the investment,” says Olcayto Yigit, Director, sales region Turkey, Vestas Türkiye.

Juan Araluce, President, Vestas Mediterranean, concludes: “We are extremely proud to start our operations in a new market, such as Pakistan, through the development of this important project together with the Zorlu Energy Group. I am very confident that this project will pave the way for an even stronger relationship between both companies.”

Sean Sutton, President, Vestas Asia Pacific, concludes: “We are glad to be part of this prestigious project in Pakistan. We believe that this milestone puts Vestas in an advantageous position to encourage and support the development of wind power in this country going forward.”

Zorlu Energy Pakistan’s 56.4 MW wind power plant will have an estimated annual production of 159,000 MWh per year, which corresponds to the residential electricity consumption of approx. 350,000 persons in Pakistan. Moreover, the wind farm will save the environment from more than 90,000 tons of CO2 emissions on an annual basis.

As part of its short-term policy, the Government of Pakistan introduced in 2006 a Policy for Development of Renewable Energy for Power Generation with the aim of utilizing the unexploited wind resources in the country as well as of attracting new investments to Pakistan. This cooperation between Zorlu Enerji and Vestas will be a landmark to pave the way for developing wind energy in the country.

AEDB to launch one wind power project every month, according to Power Engg:

As part of an ambitious strategy of the government to bridge gap between demand and supply of electricity, the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) would launch one wind power project every month. "The 2012 will be remembered as the year of wind power in Pakistan as we are planning to inaugurate one project every month in the current year," an AEDB official told.

Last week, Federal Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar and Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Liu Jian jointly performed the groundbreaking of 50 megawatt wind power project, which would be set up in Jhimpir area of Sindh. The official said that Pakistan has vast potential to generate electricity through alternative energy sources, which is reflective from the fact that alone the Thatta district has the capacity of producing 15,000 MW wind power.

Sources in the board said the project is being executed in collaboration with a Chinese company : Three Gorges : which has been mandated to set up total 20 wind-farms of 50 MW each during next five years.

This is the company's first project in Pakistan, while in total, it is third wind power project initiated in the country, the sources added.

They said that AEDB has set a target to generate 1500 MW wind power by 2013, which seems achievable because of the serious and accelerated efforts of the government.

The government has introduced an 'effective and attractive' renewable energy policy, which is bringing foreign investment in the power sector, the sources said, adding "It is an achievement that renewable and wind energy sectors are attracting the highest amount of private investment as compared to any other sector of the economy."

Special attention is being paid on other resources to produce electricity like hydro, hydel and wind, which are cheapest modes of generating power.

Besides, the focus is being given on the Thar coal reserves to use in power production, they added.

The Thar coal reserves worth $ 25 trillion have potential to generate 5,000 MW electricity for at least 800 years to meet growing energy demand of the country.

While, the power generated from coal gasification is the cheapest than other sources like furnace oil, natural gas and hydel. According to a report, a single reserve in Thar has about 850trillion cubic feet coal (TCF).

Pakistan wants to be leading producer of wind energy, says a story in Express Tribune:

Despite being a late entrant to the wind energy race, Pakistan is soon going to join leading wind energy producers because of growing interest of investors and forward-looking renewable energy policies of the government, says Fauji Fertilizer Company Energy Limited Project Director Brigadier (R) Tariq Izaz.

He was speaking on the sidelines of a briefing arranged for select media at the company site at Jhampir, District Thatta, on Thursday.

“With eight projects of wind energy in progress, the country is all set to take off in this area,” said Izaz. “This will not only reduce electricity shortages, but will also help ease the burden of oil imports that cost over $12 billion annually.”

Fauji Fertilizer Company Energy Limited (FFCEL) will start producing electricity on commercial basis from November this year, which will be the first addition of wind power to the national grid. The company initially plans to produce 50 megawatts and later expand the capacity to 250 megawatts.

Izaz said the future of wind power was extremely bright because of the wind corridors in Sindh. To substantiate his point, he said, the fair category of wind speed in most parts of the world is between 6.2 and 6.9 metres per second (m/s). There are a few places that come under the good category where wind speed is between 7 and 7.3 m/s.

Fortunately, the wind speed in the Sindh corridor is stronger than the above two categories and it stands in the excellent category that is between 7.5 and 7.7 m/s.

FFCEL, a subsidiary of Fauji Fertilizer Company, will start trial energy production from June, which will be provided to the national grid free of charge by the time commercial production starts in November.

According to a USAID report, Pakistan has the potential of producing 150,000 megawatts of wind energy, of which only the Sindh corridor can produce 40,000 megawatts. Jhampir, Gharo and Keti Bander are the three areas where Sindh has a huge potential for wind energy.

Fauji Fertilizer has acquired 1,283 acres of land for the project and invested $135 million since its start in March 2007. At present, the company is in the process of installing 33 wind turbines.

Izaz claimed that the project had achieved 60% completion target. Seventeen sets of wind turbines and blades have already arrived, while remaining 16 turbines and blades are scheduled to reach Karachi in March.

He said seven wind turbines had already been installed and the remaining 25 towers were in different stages of manufacturing at the Karachi Manufacturing Works at Bin Qasim.

Keeping in view the country’s energy demand, the government has decided to increase the share of renewable sources in the overall energy mix. The renewable energy policy was unveiled in December 2006 and the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) has issued 97 letters of interest for wind energy – FFC got 24th for 50 megawatts and 96th for an additional 100 megawatts. AEDB also allotted land to 23 investors – 12 in Gharo and 11 in Jhampir.

Here's a Power Engg website report on renewable energy potential in Pakistan:

Pakistan's geography is most conducive to exploitation of solar energy as it is 6th most fortunate country in the world in terms of solar irradiance and where sunshine availability is 8-10 hours per day over much of the plans of Sindh, Balochistan and Southern Punjab.

Solar energy intensity in sunbelt of Pakistan is approximately 1,800-2,200 Kwh per square meter per day which is most favourable for exploitation of solar energy. Potential capacity for installation of solar photovoltaic power by some estimates is 1,600 GW, which is 40 times greater than present consumption. Based on range of currently possible conversion efficiencies in area of one sq km has potential to produce 40-55MW power and can generate revenue conservatively estimated at Rs 1 billion per month at current average tariffs of Rs 10 per Kw-hr.

Since solar power is available only during times of sunshine, it can at most meet up to 30% of daily consumption without need for energy storage such as in underground salt deposits. Wasteland and desert of Thar, lower Sindh & Balochistan are prime contenders to establish large solar farms with capacities of generating more than 250 gigawatts electric power to meet energy shortfall over coming decades, says expert Samir Hoodbhoy who participated in technology breakthroughs in robotics systems, semi-conductors and first mobile cellular system developed. He directed creation of Central Design Bureau of Pakistan Steel Mills in 1988-92.

Hydrokinetic and solar thermal are two most promising alternate renewable energy solutions that can be used to reduce Pakistan's rising $10 billion annual fuel imports and energy deficits and at same time preserve environment by not adding to hazards of increased carbon gases emissions caused by use of furnace oil and natural gas. Deserts of Tharparkar & Balochistan have potential for producing several hundreds of GWatts power. --------------Alternate Energy Development Board AEDB says Nokundi in Chagai district is one of world's most ideal wind corridors where wind speed is almost constantly 12.5% higher than average required for energy generation. Other parts of wind corridor includes a 300-kilometre-long area with wide open spaces from Dalbandin to Taftan, a town on border of Iran, Gharo to Keti Bandar in Thatta district of Sindh province which is 60 km long and 170 km deep corridor and estimated to have a power generation potential of 50,000MW. Similar is case of Lasbela district of Balochistan province, where wind energy at sustainable speed, good for power generation is available with little variation in seasons (five meters per second in winter and eight meters per second in summer).

Hoodbhoy says in Balochistan potential for wind generation is attractive, current unsettled political, socioeconomic conditions are disincentives for construction of large wind turbines and solar farms with capacities of 1MW. Under settled conditions, this region could easily become attractive carbon gas free energy producing center.

Mini wind farming projects (1-50 kWatts) along with small solar farms scattered over remote inaccessible areas presents attractive proposition that will help mitigate localized needs of electricity for lighting, communications, pumping water with tube wells for irrigation, domestic consumption. Larger wind power and solar power farms with individual production capacity of 0.5-500 MW developed along wind corridors and desert hinterland of Balochistan, respectively, have capacity to radically alter socioeconomic plight of Pakistan by resuscitating agricultural and industrial sectors.

Pakistan’s first 50-megawatt wind energy project at Jhimpir in Thatta district will start its trial electricity production in June, which will be provided to the national grid free till the start of commercial operation in November.

This was stated by Tariq Izaz, project director of the FFC Energy Limited (FFCEL), on Thursday while briefing the media on the location, where the project is in its final stage of completion.

Pakistan had the potential to produce up to 346 gigawatts of electricity through wind energy alone provided we utilised the potential and more companies start building wind energy projects in the country, he said.

Mr Izaz said if Pakistan produced just 10 per cent of the available wind energy potential, that is 34GW, in the next 15-20 years, it would be well on the path to energy security and prosperity.

The company has acquired 1,283 acres for the project and spent about $135 million on the project. The FFCEL will subsequently increase the energy production capacity through wind power projects to 250MW. Currently the company is installing 33 wind turbines.

He claimed that the project had achieved 60pc completion target. Seventeen sets of wind turbines and blades had already arrived here, and the remaining 16 turbines and blades were scheduled to reach Karachi in March. Seven wind turbines had been installed and 25 towers were in different stages of manufacturing at the Karachi Manufacturing Works, Bin Qasim.

Concrete pouring of 23 turbine foundations had been completed and civil works were in different stages on the remaining 10 foundations, he said.

Besides, he said, the construction of three kilometres of access road, 18km internal roads, culverts over the gas line, and temporary site facilities had been completed.

For years, solar took a back seat to wind as China’s preferred form of renewable energy. Solar was less efficient and cost about four times as much per kilowatt hour of production. As raw materials costs for panels have fallen, that gap has narrowed, says Ming Yang, vice president for business development at Shanghai panel maker JA Solar (JASO). Today, producing a kilowatt hour of solar power costs about 17¢, he says, vs. 12¢ for wind, and prices are falling fast.

That’s gotten the attention of Chinese officials. “There’s been a big change in the mindset of policy makers,” says Yang, whose company is on track to sell “north of 20 percent” of its production in China this year, more than double last year’s share. Like most in the industry, JA has benefited from an initiative dubbed Golden Sun that offers state support to developers of solar installations. Although introduced in 2009, Golden Sun started to take hold last year, when the government approved more than 600 Mw of projects. NPD Solarbuzz says there will be about 1,000 Mw of new Golden Sun projects in 2012.

Like Europe, China has started requiring “feed-in tariffs”—guaranteed prices utilities must pay solar power producers for their electricity. Though the rate fell to 16¢ per kilowatt hour this year from 18¢ in 2011, with production costs falling the lower amount is plenty, says NPD Solarbuzz analyst Ray Lian. “If this rate is maintained, we expect to see another surge in installations,” he says.

A larger Chinese market should be good news for renewable energy worldwide, with growing demand from China helping shore up prices at a time Europe is reassessing its solar energy policies. On Feb. 23, German Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen said his country would cut its assistance by as much as 29 percent. Although U.S. producers such as First Solar (FSLR) have made little headway in China, the country’s growth “will open up a much-needed source of demand,” says James Evans, a senior analyst with researcher Bloomberg Industries in London. A bigger Chinese market “will continue to allow the cost of solar technology to come down,” Evans says, “even without the European subsidized markets.”

JHIMPIR, Sindh, Apr 2, 2012 (IPS) - "I still cannot fathom how electricity can be produced by the wind," said a nonplused Mohammad Ahmed, a 55-year-old local baker, as he gazed up at a row of giant wind turbines.

These huge windmills, over a dozen of them, stand tall over the horizon, visual long before one actually enters the picturesque town of Jhimpir, about 70 kilometres from the southern port city of Karachi, in the Sindh province.

Some reaching 84 metres, others towering at 94 metres tall, weighing approximately 84 metric tonnes (excluding the weight of the towers) their blades slightly longer than the spread of the wings of a Boeing 747, these wind turbines dwarf some of the tallest buildings dotting Karachi’s skyline.

The blades carve through the winds of Jhimpir, producing energy. Four of these, set up by the Turkish company Zorlu Energi, have already been producing and supplying electricity to the government for the last three months.

A year ago, when the entire country was suffering from long hours of power outages and windmills first began producing electricity on an experimental basis in Jhimpir, it was perhaps the only town in Pakistan where the lights never went out.

"It was such a delight but it only lasted a year," said Khair Mohammad Qasi, a poet and a writer based in Jhimpir. "For the entire town, even electricity generated by one windmill is enough," he said.

"Our target for 2013 is to produce over 400 megawatts of electricity based on the land that has been made available," Arif Alauddin, head of the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB), the entity responsible for facilitating the private sector’s establishment of windmills, told IPS. "If we have more land, we think we can add 400-500 (additional megawatts) every year," he added.

At the moment, Pakistan is facing a shortage of about 5,000 megawatts of power. Classified as the "best wind regimes" in the country, the energy produced at Jhimpir will go to the national grid, and be spread throughout the country, "wherever it is needed," said AEDB’s spokesperson.

Alauddin explained, "At the (cut off wind speed of 12 metres per second) or higher, the turbines stop operation." The turbines also don’t operate below the speed of 3.5 metres per second.

Overall, the Sindh province has the potential to produce 50,000 megawatts of wind energy, whereas the various pockets around the country can produce as much as 350,000 megawatts, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the United States.

Every few days, a new turbine is seen rising out of the desert-like countryside.

At the moment there are 18 private companies in the field, with projects at various stages of completion. Each project will have a generating capacity of about 50 megawatts, costing 130 million dollars, using different turbines. By next year, eight to ten of these companies will be fully operational.

This means that soon the countryside will be littered with these giant towers, which will catapult Pakistan into the top 20 producers of wind energy.

While work on wind energy has been going on for some years, it is only in the last three years that the sector actually went into high gear.

But now Pakistan seems to be making up for the lost time.

"(Besides) the developed countries with mandatory emission reduction quotas under the Koyoto Protocol, we will be the third, maybe fourth (largest producer of wind energy) after China and India," estimated Alauddin.

JEDDAH, 27 Jumada Al-Thani/19 May (IINA)- The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in partnership with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed a US$133 million agreement for long-term lease finance (Ijara) facility for the development of two wind power projects in the Sindh province of Pakistan.

A consortium of local financial institutions comprising National Bank of Pakistan, Faysal Bank, United Bank Limited, Allied Bank and Meezan Bank are also participating in the transaction. Under an innovative risk participation structure between IDB and ADB, the project companies were able to raise 100% Islamic financing for these important infrastructure projects.

The projects are sponsored by the Fauji Foundation and Tapal Group in Pakistan. Once complete, the projects shall add generation capacity of 100MW to the national grid under long term Energy Purchase Agreement with the National Transmission and Distribution Company (NTDC) of Pakistan and thereby make a significant contribution to improving the power supply situation in the country.

These projects are the first generation wind energy projects that Pakistan has embarked on. “Pakistan has enormous potential to tap wind energy, and successful implementation of these projects is expected to bring in further investment in developing more wind projects in Pakistan.” said Walid Abdelwahab, Director, Infrastructure Dept at IDB.

IDB has been a long term development partner of Pakistan and has been involved in both public and private sector projects. Since its inception, IDB’s cumulative operations in Pakistan have reached to almost US$7.5 billion.

Chinese oil and gas company United Energy Group Ltd (0467.HK) said on Wednesday it plans to invest $3 billion in a wind farm project in energy-starved Pakistan and is in talks to buy equipment from mainland suppliers.

United Energy, which paid BP (BP.L) $775 million for oil and gas assets in Pakistan in 2010, said it plans to construct the wind farm in several phases. It did not disclose the targeted total capacity for the project or provide a timeframe.

The company said, however, it had already obtained approval from the Pakistan government to construct a wind power project with a capacity of 500 megawatts.

Pakistan, which suffers chronic shortages of electricity, is offering clean energy producers higher rates for renewable power as it seeks to boost production, while diversifying energy supply away from oil and gas.

The major suppliers of wind power equipment in China are Sinovel (601558.SS) and Xinjiang Goldwind Science and Technology (002202.SZ)(2208.HK).

Here's an example in Express Tribune of what the Pak military is doing to alleviate the energy crisis and boost the economy:

ISLAMABAD: Subsidiaries of Fauji Foundation – Foundation Wind Energy-I Limited and Foundation Wind Energy-II Limited – are making an investment of $251 million in setting up two wind power projects of 50 megawatts each in Gharo, Sindh.

In this connection, the two companies and the government signed an implementation agreement here on Tuesday. The accord was inked by Brigadier (Retired) Dr Gulfam Alam, Project Director of the two projects and Arif Alauddin, Chief Executive Officer of Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB), on behalf of the government.

Speaking on the occasion, Managing Director of the two companies, Lieutenant General (retd) Muhammad Mustafa Khan said the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and a syndicate of local banks were providing most of the finance for the wind farms.

Debt financing, which is 75% of the project cost, is Shariah-complaint and is the first of its kind in Pakistan. The remaining 25% of the cost is being financed via equity investment, arranged by the Fauji Foundation group, CapAsia Singapore and Tapal Group Karachi.

ADB and IDB will provide $124 million and the consortium of local banks will arrange $63 million.

Khan said he was targeting to enter into an energy purchase agreement for the two projects this month and achieve financial close immediately after that. Both projects are expected to start commercial production in the second quarter of 2014.

Fauji Fertiliser Company Wind Energy Limited (FFCEL) has already established a 50MW wind power plant, which would start operation this month.

AEDB CEO Arif Alauddin commented that the two wind projects of Fauji Foundation subsidiaries were trendsetters in many ways and opening doors to investment in the Gharo Keti Bandar wind corridor.

He said 45 wind power projects of around 3,200MW were under process, adding the Sindh government had leased around 26,000 acres of land to AEDB for 18 projects with a cumulative capacity of 906 megawatts, which were at different stages of development.

Of these, projects having combined capacity of 106MW are ready for commencement of operation and projects producing a further 100MW will achieve financial close shortly.

“Wind projects being installed by Fauji Foundation will cost less than Rs10 per unit,” he said, adding wind and solar projects would have their impact on the energy mix and reduce circular debt.

KARACHI - The 56.4 Megawatt Asian Development Bank (ADB) Funded Wind Power Project Jhampir would generate electricity from January 2013. A project of Fauji Fertilizer Company Energy Limited (FFCEL) would also be made operational from next week and it would feed 50 Megawatt of electricity in the national electricity transmission system. In total more than 106 Megawatts of electricity would be credited into the national power transmission system from next.The ADB is financed the $143 million Jhampir windmill project and it was developed by Zorlu Energy Pakistan, the local subsidiary of a Turkish company. Jahmpir project is spread over 1148 acres at Jhampir of Thatta district in Sindh. A total of 34 wind turbines with power generation capacity of 1.8 megawatt each have been erected till date. The only formality left before inaugurating the power generation operations is a pending approval from National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC). Zorlu Energy’s Mumtaz Hassan said that “we have completed all the work on the project and are waiting for the approval to start operation, from next month”. An inspection team of independent engineers would inspect the site next week. Mumtaz added that “on our side we have completed the testing and next week independent engineers will be here inspect the project and issue the certificate.”Project Direct Mr. Murad said that lastest technology had been utilized for the development of Jhampir Wind Energy Project. He said that Zorlu can develop more wind energy projects to generate electricity from this renewable source.The Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) was pivotal in assisting Zorlu Energy to initiate this project. AEDB Deputy Director Naeem Memon said that Ghoro-Ketti Bandar wind corridor has a potential to generate 40,000 to 50,000MW electricity from this free and clean source of energy. He told that another, Ghoro-Ketti Bandar wind corridor spreads across 110/70 kilometers in the Sindh and Balochistan province. He said that as many as 24 projects have been identified for wind and power generation and many companies had been approached AEDB for developing these projects. He said that the country would also get carbon credits for about 95,000 tons that would be shared between seller and the purchaser.It is pertinent to mention that Asian Development Bank is also funding several projects in Sindh province aimed at poverty reduction and energy development. The major projects include Sindh Costal Community Development Project (CCDP) launched to reduce poverty for rural households in Sindh Province by guaranteeing ecologically sustainable income opportunities and access to services for poor residents in eight coastal talukas of Thatta and Badin Districts.

Federal Minister for Water and Power Ch Ahmed Mukhtar has said that 45 Wind Power Projects of around 3,200 megawatts (MW) capacity are under completion process, out of which some are ready for commercial operation.

Among them wind projects worth 106 MW are ready for commercial operation, while another 150 MW projects are under construction. The next year will see at least 10 more projects – an investment of over $2 billion, the minister said while addressing as chief guest in the launching ceremony of Commemorative Postal Stamp on inauguration of Pakistan’s first 50 MW wind energy project by Fauji Fertilizer Company (FFC) on Wednesday.

He said that commencement of commercial operation of FFC Wind Farm Project is the beginning of exploiting the wind potential of renowned Gharo-Keti Bandar Wind Corridor- an area that alone offers power generation potential of 50,000 MW. I feel exalted that many more wind power projects are in pipeline and would commence their commercial operations one after another in the coming months.----

Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) CEO Arif Allauddin in his welcome address said that the country would see more new projects in the alternative energy sector. Without taking away any credit from FFC, I wish to quickly recognise a number of other organisations and individuals without which this historic achievement would not have been possible – even for the competent team of FFC.

Allauddin said just like 8,000 parts of every wind turbine that must work in synchronisation, a number of agencies, organisations and individuals worked with dedication and unity of purpose to achieve this feat in such a short time.

This is not all. Recent data collected by AEDB has revealed that our wind corridors are not only rich in the wind resource, but the solar radiations here are of the highest quality – making this as one of the rare corridors in the world, where both wind and solar projects are viable.

FFC Managing Director Lt General (r) Khalid Naeem Lodhi also spoke on the occasion and said that the company is planning to invest more capital in the power sector and other wind project with the collaboration of China is under construction and soon would be completed.

Earlier, the minister launched the Commemorative Postal Stamp on the inauguration of the first wind power project.

Pakistan is blessed with enormous wind energy potential. Studies indicate that theoretical potential of wind energy in Pakistan is around 346,000 MW, out of which Gharo~Keti Bandar wind corridor solely has a potential of around 50,000 MW. Utilization of this enormous potential of clean, economical and inexhaustible source of energy can play a vital role in fulfilling the future energy demands of the country.

AEDB is facilitating the private sector in developing wind power projects in the country. The 49.5 MW wind power project developed by FFC Energy Ltd is the first among many others, which are at various stages of development. Four other wind power projects being developed by ZorluEnerji (56.4 MW), Three Gorges Pakistan (49.5 MW) and Foundation Wind Energy I and 11 (50 MW each) are under construction. ZorluEnerji has already completed the installation of wind turbines for their project and the project is expected to become operational by end of this month. In addition to this, wind power project of 400-600 MW capacity are expected to achieve Financial Close by end of 2013.

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AEDB is enacted to facilitate the private sector for establishing Renewable Energy projects based on wind, solar, micro-hydel, bio-diesel, biomass, waste to energy, fuel cells, tidal, wave energy etc. AEDB is also vested with the responsibility of formulation of national strategies, policies, plans and programmes for development of alternative and renewable.

The project was bankrolled by fertiliser group Fauji, a subsidiary of the Fauji Foundation industrial conglomerate.

Nordex has signed supply deals for five more wind farms in Pakistan, each comprising 20 of its N100/2500 turbines. Fauji, Gul Ahmed Energy, Metro Power and Yunus Energy are the customers for those projects.

Nordex expects construction at two of those other wind farms, with a combined capacity of 100MW, to start this year.

With a growing power demand and blackouts common, Pakistan is committed to expanding renewable energy, Nordex says.“The fixed feed-in remuneration of around $0.1466 per kWh for a period of 20 years for wind-produced electricity is making the market attractive for investors," it adds.

Nordex initially oversaw the Jhimpir project via its Beijing subsidiary, but has now established a separate local company in the Pakistan capital, Islamabad.

KARACHI: Sindh government is working on 40 different power projects in its wind corridor, with a total generation capacity of 2000 MW in next two years, said Mir Hussain Ali, provincial Secretary for Environment and Alternate Energy Department.

This will also allow the electrification of about 120 schools in rural Sindh, he said addressing a session on the Renewable Energy organized by IUCN - Pakistan on Sunday.

Talking about the opportunities in the wind corridor, he said, that the government is working on about 40 projects with various investors with total generation capacity of 2000 MW in the next two years.

"This is despite the fact that Renewable Energy projects often do not get a green light in public sector because of the initial costs," he said.

The Sindh secretary for environment and alternative energy said the government is also supplying solar stoves and working on a biogas project worth Rs. 200 million rupees.

The secretary for environment and alternative energy mentioned that in Mirpurkhas, Solar Water Pumping Stations have been installed to meet the electricity crunch.

Mir Hussain Ali also talked about having immense potential of biogas at the Cattle Colony in Karachi and prospects in coastal areas of Pakistan in lieu of wind related projects.

On the occasion Carl Pope, a renowned expert on renewable energy in his presentation,"Renewable Energy Cheaper in the Long Run," said that presently over 1.3 billion people in the world are estimated to be living without electricity.

One billion of these people, including 700 million residents of South Asia will remain without electricity until 2030 if the switch to alternatives does not happen, he warned.

Hitor Group Inc. is pleased to announce it has executed an agreement with Orient Renewable Energy (Ptv) Ltd. relating to the Hitor technologies including a Manufacturing Plant for the fabrication of construction components and systems for housing and International Housing Development Projects.

Hitor will oversee the development, construction, commissioning and operations of a plant for construction components and systems including but not limited to a manufacturing plant for Structural Steel Systems™ or other Hitor technologies. Orient Renewable Energy (Ptv) Ltd. will contribute it's contacts, licenses (as needed), agreements and relational know how and development work to date as well as overall Primary Project Development services in the provision of process development, negotiations with the local Government and approval authorities of and the financing required for the manufacturing plant.

Here's a PakistanToday report on new wind energy investment in Pakistan:

The Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) has approved $ 95 million in financing for a wind power project poised to deliver much-needed electricity to Pakistan. The credit facility will help build a 50-megawatt wind power plant in southeastern Pakistan’s Ghoro-Keti Bandar Wind Corridor designed to generate 133 gigawatt hours of emission-free electricity annually.Using General Electric Wind turbines, the Sapphire Wind Power plant supports a mutual U.S.-Pakistan goal to diversify Pakistan’s power generation beyond reliance on high-priced fuel oil by tapping Pakistan’s vast renewable energy potential, said OPIC, which is the U.S. Government’s development finance institution.“The provision of clean and reliable electricity is an essential building block of any economy,” said OPIC President and CEO Elizabeth L. Littlefield.A recent study funded by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the U.S. Agency for International Development estimates that Pakistan possesses 132,000 MW of potential installed wind capacity – virtually equal to the world’s entire installed wind capacity for 2010.

Nordex has secured a firm supply order for the 50MW FWEL 2 wind farm in Sindh, around 80km from Karachi in Pakistan.

The scheme will feature 20 N100/2500 hot climate turbines and operation is scheduled for 2014.

Nordex is building the wind farm on a turnkey basis alongside Descon Engineering (Pakistan). The project is the first of a possible 250MW tie-up with the owners.

The Fauji Foundation holds a 55% stake while Cap Asia and the Tapal Group own the remaining 25% and 20%, respectively.

Nordex manager Lars Bondo Krogsgaard said: “I am pleased that with this project the first of the 250MW of contracts in Pakistan will commence. It shows us that the Pakistani market holds tremendous potential that can be realised by Nordex.”

The manufacturer built its first wind farm in Pakistan last year, again for Fauji.

Pakistan encapsulates the renewable energy challenge faced by many developing and emerging countries. Despite abundant renewable resources – including solar, wind, hydropower and biomass – very little of this potential has been utilized. At the same time, about a third of the country’s people do not have access to electricity.

Pakistan has ambitious plans for solar and wind projects, and has developed a comprehensive policy framework for renewable energy, but projects on the ground remain few and far between.

What accounts for this gap? “One major reason is a lack of credible resource data,” says Arif Alauddin, the former CEO of Pakistan’s Alternative Energy Development Board, and now Managing Director of the National Energy Conservation Center.

While high-level solar and wind maps are widely available, these do not contain the granular data required by governments to understand the country’s full resource potential and needed by the private sector to identify specific sites for development.

To address this challenge, Pakistan and eight other countries are joining with the World Bank in a new Renewable Energy Mapping Program to carry out mapping of renewable energy resources that will for the first time produce rich, nationwide data for each country. Coordinated and financed by the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), the initiative will cover mapping of solar, wind, biomass, and small hydropower potential.

“The importance of this resource mapping [for Pakistan] cannot be overstated,” says Arif Alauddin. “The country’s energy shortage is unprecedented, tariffs are going up, and petroleum imports are eating up a large share of export earnings. There is a need to shift to domestic renewable energy resources.”----------We expect this initiative to be highly catalytic,” said Oliver Knight, Senior Energy Specialist at ESMAP. “Resource mapping is a crucial step in providing the resource and policy certainty that commercial developers need to scale up investment in renewables. In addition, government authorities will be better informed in negotiations on specific projects, and donors will have a clearer sense of the data and capacity needs, as well as the renewable potential, of clients.”

As well as mapping, the program will support a wide variety of activities, including consolidation and validation of existing datasets, work to standardize resource assessment methodologies, and capacity development of local institutions and experts. An open data repository will be developed to facilitate free and open access to the data, and the geospatial outputs (GIS layers) will be made available via a new web portal. The outputs will also be made available to the Global Atlas for Solar and Wind that has been developed by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the Clean Energy Ministerial.

The program is one of a number of initiatives the World Bank Group is undertaking in support of the global Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) campaign. One goal of the initative is to double to the share of renewable power in the global energy mix from 18 percent to 36 percent by 2030. According to the SE4ALL Global Tracking Framework report produced by a multi-agency team led by the World Bank and released on May 28, renewable energy (excluding biomass) made up only 1.6 percent of total final energy consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa, and 1.8 percent in Southern Asia, as of 2010.

“The resource mapping initiative will open a floodgate of possibilities for both large and smaller investors, as well as for consumers who desperately need new energy options,” Arif Alauddin said.

German turbine manufacturer Nordex has gained a firm 50MW follow-up order in Pakistan from the Fauji Foundation and the Malay infrastructure fund Cap Asia.The order is for 20 of the company’s N100/2500 turbines to be installed at the FWEL I project in the province of Sindh in 2014.

The company had already delivered turbines for two other wind farms in the same province – the FFCEL and FWEL II projects.

Nordex says the close proximity of all three projects – at about 80km from Karachi – will enable it to leverage synergies such as centralising the provision of services under the warranty, and operation and maintenance contracts.

General Electric will supply 33 1.5MW turbines with 82.5-meter rotors for the 50MW Sapphire project in Pakistan, its first wind equipment deal in the Asian nation.GE will also provide 10 years of operations and maintenance services as part of the contract.

The vendor notes that although this is GE’s first wind energy project with developer HydroChina and Sapphire, that Sapphire has selected the company’s power generation equipment including engines and gas turbines for more than 18 years in the region.

“We chose GE wind turbines because they are a well-proven technology and widely installed around the world, especially in tropical climates like that of Pakistan,” says Nadeem Abdullah, owner of the Sapphire Wind Power farm. “GE has been instrumental in supporting Sapphire to achieve financial closure with OPIC.”

OPIC is the US government’s development finance Institution, which provides capital for infrastructure projects that align with US foreign policy goals. OPIC’s funding will assist in the development of the wind farm.

The US Agency for International Development and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimate Pakistan has more than 132GW of wind energy capacity. The country’s electricity demand is increasing 4% per year.

“Pakistan has huge potential for wind energy, and is a great example of a country where wind can be competitive with other generation technologies,” says Anne McEntee, chief executive of GE’s renewable energy business.

Global Renewable Energy Mapping Program Gets Underway in Pakistan with First Solar Measurement Station

The first of nine automated solar measuring stations in Pakistan was inaugurated at the Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park in Bahawalpur in October 2014The nine stations will transmit daily reports on 10 minute average values for solar radiation levels, temperature, air pressure and wind speed, with the data made publicly availableInstallation will soon be followed by 15 wind measurement stations in Pakistan, and similar measurement campaigns in eleven other countries

Pakistan has tremendous potential for harnessing wind, solar, biomass and other renewable energy resources to help reduce power cuts and improve access to modern energy services. But the country lacks the high quality resource data at a national scale that is needed to take full advantage of these sources of clean energy.

For the past year, the World Bank and Pakistan’s Alternative Energy Development Board have been working together to map renewable energy resources across the entire country. The project, supported by the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), will measure Pakistan’s potential for wind, solar and biomass energy by using ground-based data collection, GIS analysis, and geospatial planning. It is part of a broader Renewable Energy Resource Mapping initiative covering 12 countries.

Concluding the first phase of the project, initial maps of solar and wind potential for Pakistan were presented to the government and other stakeholders at an October 15 workshop in Islamabad. The result of months of computer-intensive modeling, these maps represent a significant improvement over previous efforts due to computational advances over the last decade. The maps are based on satellite data and global atmospheric models covering a 10 year period, and can be used to estimate the likely solar or wind potential at any point in the country.

However, to get to the level of confidence required by commercial developers, these modeling results must be compared against actual solar and wind measurements taken from ground-based stations.

A major part of the ESMAP renewable energy mapping initiative is to collect ground-based measurement data for a period of up to two years. This data is then used to improve the models, leading to the production of solar and wind atlases with a margin of error of as low as 5 percent. These in turn can be used by governments to set tariffs and guide the strategic development of renewable energy, and by commercial developers to carry out feasibility studies, leading to development of solar and wind power plants.

Vestas has signed two memorandum of understandings (MOUs) with the Sindh and Punjab regional governments to develop up to 1.3GW of wind projects.

The first MOU will see Vestas assist the Sindh government in initially developing 100MW of projects, with a potential to expand up to 300MW.Vestas vice president of sales in Asia Pacific, Gerard Carew, said the MoU will help the country overcome its "energy crisis", adding the Sindh province had excellent wind resources.The Danish embassy in Pakistan announced the second MOU with the Punjabi government. It follows an analysis by Vestas, which found potential for between 800MW and 1GW across four possible wind sites.According to Windpower Intelligence, the research and data division of Windpower Monthly, Pakistan has just over 100MW of wind capacity installed. The country installed no new capacity in 2014.All of Pakistan's current online capacity can be found in the Sindh province, including the 50.4MW Nooriabad II project. The site is powered by 28 Vestas V90-1.8MW turbines.

Pakistan does, however, have a healthy pipeline and in October US turbine manufacturer GE secured its first contract there for a 49.5MW project.

Over the past six years Buksh Energy (Pvt) Ltd has been committed to maximising energy efficiency and ensuring the optimum utilisation of resources in its attempts to alleviate Pakistan's severe energy crisis. Global Wind Power (GWP) and Buksh Energy have joined hands to provide holistic turnkey solutions for managing and commissioning wind energy projects in Pakistan.

The partnership aims at to facilitate the existing wind energy projects with the selection of an experienced EPC and project developer. This is the first ever collaboration of BEPL and GWP for supporting the wind energy sector of the country and will provide a strategic balance of services, utilising the two leading companies' respective strengths and resources to leverage the energy sector of Pakistan.

Global Wind Power (GWP), Denmark, is a leading international project developer specialising in developing, implementing, selling and managing wind turbine projects for professional investments. The Ambassador of Denmark to Pakistan, Jesper Moller Sorensen said: "As part of our Danida Business facility, we invited Buksh Energy to Denmark in October to meet prospective partners in the energy sector. I am really excited that Buksh Energy and Global Wind Power found each other. It is exactly innovative partnerships like this that will help Pakistan to meet its energy demand in the future. Denmark is a global world leader in wind solutions, and that potential in Pakistan is enormous." GWP's senior business advisor Nicky Mads Larsen, is also very positive about the company's future with BEPL.

He said, "The partnership between Buksh Energy and GWP aims at to combine the best of local and international know-how and experience for the benefit of the local industry, developers and investors. Although we have been in traditional project joint ventures before, our local partner agreement is a new and interesting form of collaboration for which we are very excited, and which allows us to explore markets that would otherwise be difficult to enter."

Fiza Farhan, Director of Buksh Energy also shared her enthusiasm for the project, said, "Buksh Energy is extremely excited to bring turnkey wind energy solutions to Pakistan with this venture. I believe that our unique partnership will open new avenues for the renewable energy sector and encourage the development of the wind energy sector in the country."

The CEO of BEPL, Asim Buksh said, "It is with great pride that we announce this partnership with GWP as our trusted project development and EPC partner. The partnership aims to fully facilitate the investors in setting up wind farms with a team of experts possessing the finest EPC and project management skill set. This move fits in with our vision 2020 to ensure that we are responsible for five percent of Pakistan's energy needs to be met by renewables."-

The private sector arm of the French Development Agency will infuse USD 20 million (EUR 18.8m) into Gul Ahmed Wind Power Ltd, which is developing a 50-MW wind project in Pakistan’s Sindh province.

Finance institution Proparco’s investment in this independent power producer will support the construction and operation of the plant that will be located to the northeast of Karachi. The move is part of attempts to back renewable power generation and drive economic development across the country, according to a Tuesday press release.

“This project will contribute not only to reducing pressure on the country’s power grid, but also to encouraging the development of strong, reliable and clean energy in the region,” said Claude Periou, CEO of Proparco. He went on to say that this is the entity’s third investment in Pakistan’s energy sector.

The planned wind farm will help the country reduce the use of polluting and expensive fossil fuels and will create 50 long-term job positions.

The China Three Gorges Corporation has official wrapped up construction work on its first wind farm in Pakistan, as part of vigorous efforts by the state-owned renewable energy giant to expand into the South Asian market.

Total investment for the Three Gorges wind farm in Pakistan was $130 million, for the creation of total installed capacity of 49.5 MW. The project has taken just over two years to complete, with work commencing at the end of January in 2013 and initial commercial operation beginning on November 25, 2014.

Three Gorges Corporation has touted the project as the first wind farm that a Chinese company has funded and built in Pakistan, as well as the only wind farm in Pakistan to be completed ahead of schedule.

At a completion ceremony held on March 11, China Three Gorges chairman Lu Chun said that Pakistan was a key strategic investment market for the company due to its close strategic ties with China, as well as its abundance of clean energy resources and strong market demand.

In order to foster its expansion into the Pakistani market, China Three Gorges has established China Three Gorges South Asia Investment Limited (CSAIL) an investment holding company in Pakistan that aspires to become the country’s largest renewable energy company.

The company has over 2 GW of solar, wind, and hydropower projects in the pipeline, with key projects that have already entered the construction phase including two hydropower plants with expected capacities of 720 MW and 1.1 GW respectively.

CSAIL has already obtained the support of some heavyweight backers, including the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, which has acquired a 15% equity stake in the company.

China’s $40 billion Silk Road infrastructure fund, whose establishment was announced by Beijing in November of last year, has also expressed strong interest in either investing in or cooperating with CSAIL in the South Asian market.

The main functions of NTDCL are categorized as central power purchasing agency, system operator, transmission network operator, contract registrar and power exchange administrator for the energy portfolio of Pakistan.

As a Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA), the utility works on procurement of power from GENCOs, Hydel & IPPs on behalf of Distribution Companies (DISCOS) for delivery through 500 kV, 220 kV and 132kV Network.

In Pakistan, first wind power generation plant of 50 MW was inaugurated in December 2012 and started full production in 2013. The wind power potential in Pakistan that has been identified in Sindh and Balochistan is more than 50,000 MW while Punjab has potential of producing almost 1,000 MW.

Pakistan plans to commission nine wind power projects with a combined capacity of 479 megawatt under deals signed since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government took office two years ago, an official said.Joudat Ayaz, director general of finance in Pakistan’s Alternative Energy Development Board, said the projects are are worth $1.1 billion and are located in Sindh province stretching from Karachi up the Indus River.Lenders such as the International Finance Corp., Asian Development Bank, Overseas Private Investment Corp. and Habib Bank Ltd. are among those financing the projects.The Alternative Energy Board is in talks for projects totaling another 774 megawatts for wind and 711 megawatts from solar installations. The country currently has 255 megawatt of commissioned wind farms.The board estimates that the power-starved south Asian country can produce as much as 50,000 megawatts from wind projects. The country currently has a power generation capacity of 22,000 megawatts, though shortages are leading to blackouts that disrupt homes and businesses.“Power shortfall is causing about $2 billion loss per year to the economy,” Ayaz said in an interview.Pakistan’s power regulator Nepra has approved an average tariff of 14.5 U.S. cents per unit of solar power and 10.5 U.S. cents per unit of wind energy.

The Pakistani province of Sindh is expected to soon become home to 350 MW of operational wind power capacity.

An official of the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) told the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) on Sunday that seven 50-MW wind parks along the coastline should be completed by next month. The projects include developments by Yunus Energy, Metro Power Company, Gul Wind Energy and Master Energy.

Meanwhile, Sachal Energy Development Pvt Ltd (SEDL) is building another 50-MW wind farm in Jhimpir, Sindh. It is expected to be finalised by mid-2017, the official has added.

All of the projects are financed by the private sector, he said as quoted by the news agency.

Abraaj Group is to acquire a majority stake in a clean energy company in Pakistan, its second investment in the country this year.

The Dubai company is acquiring the stake in Jhimpir Power from Burj Capital.

It is developing a 50 megawatt wind power project in Sindh, south-east Pakistan, which is expected to be completed early next year.

The area, known as the Jhimpir wind corridor, is about 120 kilometres east of Karachi. It already has more than 550MW of wind farms in operation and more than 1 gigawatt is under construction or planned.

Pakistan has been working on establishing investor-friendly policies to attract investment into the renewables sector.

The country is targeting a 6 per cent mix of renewables in its total power mix by 2030. While this may seem small compared with the UAE’s goals of clean energy sources making up 30 per cent of energy generated by 2030, Pakistan needs far more infrastructure expansion before capacity can be added.

"With a shortage of over 6,000MW and rising power consumption in Pakistan today, we are excited by the sheer size of the clean energy infrastructure opportunity, enabling government policies and the potential of the Jhimpir wind corridor," said Sev Vettivetpillai, the managing partner and head of the Abraaj thematic fund.

This is not Abraaj’s first foray into the country’s energy sector. The investment firm sold its stake in power utility K-Electric for US$1.7 billion in October, representing one of the largest private transactions in Pakistan.

"Having invested across the energy value chain in growth markets, including the power sector in Pakistan, we look forward to growing our renewable footprint and consolidating our presence in the sector," Mr Vettivetpillai said.

The Dubai company has invested across the energy value chain to the tune of $1bn in 10 investments in growth markets.

Saad Zaman, an Abraaj partner, said that this was just continuing on the success of the company’s first wind project in Pakistan. "The attractive renewable power policy framework implemented by the government has created a strong impetus for the private sector to invest in clean energy," he said.

Abraaj said this month that it had acquired a stake in Islamabad Diagnostics Centre.

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About Me

I am the Founder and President of PakAlumni Worldwide, a global social network for Pakistanis, South Asians and their friends. I also served as Chairman of the NEDians Convention 2007. In addition to being a South Asia watcher, an investor, business consultant and avid follower of the world financial markets, I have more than 25 years experience in the hi-tech industry. I have been on the faculties of Rutgers University and NED Engineering University and cofounded two high-tech startups, Cautella, Inc. and DynArray Corp and managed multi-million dollar P&Ls. I am a pioneer of the PC and mobile businesses and I have held senior management positions in hardware and software development of Intel’s microprocessor product line from 8086 to Pentium processors. My experience includes senior roles in marketing, engineering and business management. I was recognized as “Person of the Year” by PC Magazine for my contribution to 80386 program. I have an MS degree in Electrical engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
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